5 Fast Ways to Declutter Your Home

Most busy homeowners don’t have much time to declutter their home, so more and more items and junk seem to keep piling up. When we turn to finally attack that clutter, the magnitude of the task we are faced with is enough to make us walk away and find something else we would rather do. Before you get too discouraged, it is important to recognize that there are a five quick ways to help reduce that clutter.

Create organized storage options

Whether your clutter is in your child’s room, your home office or the mud room, the best way to help eliminate clutter and keep your home clutter-free is to create clearly labeled storage options. Baskets, bins and shelving options shouldn’t be underestimated when it comes to quick and neat places to hide the items that pile up.

Make donating a habit

All too often we bring in new items into our home without accounting for the old items they are replacing. So, before you know it, you have two coffee pots and only one that you actually use, or twin sized sheets when all your beds are queens or larger. Make it a personal and family habit to donate the items that you aren’t going to use anymore by creating a box in a closet or the garage for these items. When the box fills up all you have to do is take it to a drop off donation site. This is a great way to get rid of unused clutter, help someone else and get a tax write off for the upcoming tax year.

Keep your family consistently motivated to keep a clutter-free house

Make cleaning and eliminating your junk something fun for each member of your family, including yourself. If the kids keep their room clean each day for a week, perhaps their reward could be the option to choose what they want for dinner on Friday nights, or to have an extra hour of playtime after school. The basement can be a tempting place the quickly store things, don’t fall into the trap of turning your basement into a giant storage bin. For you, maybe you can reward yourself for keeping a clean house by breaking your diet from chocolate.

Do a little at a time on a daily basis

The best way to avoid the piles and piles of clutter is to not allow it to develop in the first place. Each day have your family members help you to pick up after themselves so that clutter doesn’t start piling up for the weekend dreaded cleaning day.
Keep your family consistently motivated to keep a clutter-free house – Make cleaning and eliminating your junk something fun for each member of your family, including yourself. If the kids keep their room clean each day for a week, perhaps their reward could be the option to choose what they want for dinner on Friday nights, or to have an extra hour of playtime after school. For you, maybe you can reward yourself for keeping a clean house by breaking your diet from chocolate.

Keep only what you need to

One of the hardest parts of getting organized within your home is coming to the understanding that not everything you like or see has a place in your home. If you can’t think of a reason why you would need something, save your money and your home space and don’t buy it. If you come across something you don’t need already in your home, add it to the donate pile. Holding onto useless items will lead to clutter.

Get started this weekend!

While these five tips can be quickly implemented into your daily life, they must first be established within your house and instilled into the members of your household. The best way to do this is to set aside a weekend and involve everyone in the initial clutter cleanup of your home. This will help to launch your household organization practices and get your team (family) all on the same clutter-free page.